About the Author

Robert M. Kaplan is Fred W. and Pamela K. Wasserman Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Services at UCLA and Professor of Medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. From 1997 to 2004 he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, at the University of California, San Diego. He is a past President of several organizations, including the American Psychological Association Division of Health Psychology, Section J of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Pacific), the International Society for Quality of Life Research, the Society for Behavioral Medicine, and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. He is a Past Chair of the Behavioral Science Council of the American Thoracic Society. Dr. Kaplan is currently Editor-in-Chief of Health Psychology and is the former Editor-in-Chief of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine. He has served as Associate Editor of the American Psychologist, and Consulting Editor of four other academic journals. Selected additional honors include APA Division of Health Psychology Annual Award for Outstanding Scientific Contribution (For junior scholar 1987 and again for a senior scholar 2001), SDSU Distinguished Research Lecturer, 1988, and Health Net Distinguished Lecturer in 1991, University of California 125 Anniversary Award for Most Distinguished Alumnus, University of California, Riverside, American Psychological Association Distinguished Lecturer, Distinguished Scientific contribution award from the American Association of Medical School Psychologists, National Leadership Award, from the Society of Behavioral Medicine in 2003, and President’s Award for Career Achievement from the International Society for Quality of Life Research in 2004.

Dennis P. Saccuzzo is a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, and an adjunct professor of law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. He has been a scholar and practitioner of psychological testing for over 32 years and has numerous peer-reviewed publications and professional presentations in the field. Dr. Saccuzzo’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Mental Health, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Education, the Scottish Rite Foundation, and the U.S. armed services. He is also a California licensed psychologist and a California licensed attorney. He is board certified in clinical psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). In addition, he is a Diplomate of the American Board of Assessment Psychology (ABAP) and the American Board of Forensic Medicine He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Society, and Western Psychological Association for outstanding and unusual contributions to the field of psychology. Dr. Saccuzzo is the author or co-author of over 300 peer-reviewed papers and publications, including eight textbooks and 20 law manuals. He is the president and co-founder of Applications of Psychology to Law, inc, an educational institution that applies psychological science to a legal issues and the study of law.

This was a required text for one of my classes on psychological testing. It’s really a great read. There are so many fascinating topics it covers, including very mundane and dry ones. I liked the writing style and the layout was easy to follow. I highly recommend renting this book, although I did contemplate keeping it. I’m sure I’ll get more instruction on this topic in graduate school, but it definitely made a boring class pretty exceptional. It has a lot of historical content and suggestions for tests. I’m definitely a better test–taker/test-evaluator because of it. It really drills into your head reliability and validity, so it helps with experimental scientific side of psychology as well.